Fixing The Problem
by SpaghettiGirl
Summary: "This is horrible! We have to fix this!" -Contest- FIN.
1. Chapter 1

Spaghttigrrl took a deep breath. _Inhale. Exhale. Inhale. Exhale._

Then, she set to work.

_Click. Click, click, click. Click._

Her eyes darted across the computer screen, scanning frantically for something. _No, no, no, this isn't it. No. This is _not_ possible. There has got to be some mistake. Maybe if I pressed this thing here-_

_BOOM._

_Okay. Maybe that wasn't such a great idea._

The door to the room was flung open and RageRunsStill stood at the doorway.

"What was that?" she panted.

In response, SG merely pointed at the computer.

She stared.

And stared.

And stared.

"What did you do to it?"

Smoke was rapidly rising from the top of the screen and it looked as if it had just been whacked with a hammer. But other than that, it was perfectly normal. _(At least to SG.)_

"It spontaneously combusted on its own!" she proceeded to protest. "I didn't do anything… much." At Rage's questioning look, she gave in. "Oh, alright. I threw something at it a couple of times because it wouldn't work. Then I clicked on a button and it decided to explode."

Rage paused. "Oh. That's it? Okay. I understand." She grinned. "I guess this means we can –_finally_– get a new one!"  
>"But we don't have the money..." SG sighed.<p>

That earned her a frown. "You're right. Darn it. What were you doing on the computer anyways?"

SG shot up from her sitting place and immediately started ranting. "I-was-looking-up-all-the-Hope-and-Arthur-stories-and-you-will-not-believe-what-I-found-because-there's-only-like-seven-in-the-whole-archive-and-can-you-believe-that-because-I-can't-how-is-that-possible-Hope-and-Arthur-are-so-much-fun-to-write-about-why-isn't-there-more-stories-about-them-why-why-why-life-is-cruel-"

Rage couldn't resist the grin that was slowly creeping up her face. "There's a simple solution to that."

Red faced SG wasn't finished. "-and-it-doesn't-make-any-sense-it-just-doesn- _what?_" she screamed. She bounded towards Rage as fast as a tiger. "There is? _What-is-it-what-is-it-c'mon-Rage-tell-me-already_!"

Rage held out her hand. "First thing's first."

SG groaned. "_Fiiiiiine._" And she handed her companion two-packs of mint-flavored gum and a steaming hot, just-out-of-the-oven strawberry pie to her beaming friend.

After popping a piece of gum into her mouth, Rage fished out a piece of scrap paper and a pen. "It's simple. We hold a contest. Now, what rules do you want it to have?" She looked expectantly at SG.

SG only stared at her, mouth slightly ajar.

Rage poked her friend. "...SG?"

No response.

"SG, I swear I won't share any of my strawberry pie with you if you don't answer."

"What!" She unfroze. "Sorry. That was just such a smart idea."

Rage smiled. "Thanks. Now, rules."

"Right. Rules. Um," she began to pace. "It obviously has to have Arthur/Hope in it. They don't have to be a couple, and both of them don't have to appear as long as one or the other does."

Rage nodded thoughtfully. "The rating has to be kept at T."

"Yeah," SG agreed. "Nothing higher than T. It can be any genre. I don't care. And it can be about anything. I don't care about the plot either."

"So basically, the author has the freedom to do whatever they want to the characters."

"Yup," SG nodded her head vigorously. She stopped pacing and her eyebrows knit together in confusion. "...That's it? It's that simple?"

"No," Rage disagreed. "You need a prize. What's the point of entering a contest if you don't get anything?"

"...For the fun of it?" SG asked. "But you're right. A prize. I can't draw. I can't make a video of anything."

"What about pie?" Rage suggested.

"Hm. Good idea. Pie. Okay, the prize is blueberry pie."

"...But that can't be all."

"Oh, _fine._ I'll write a one-shot about any two characters." SG looked ready to sulk.

"Isn't it worth it? It's for the sake of Arthur and Hope, remember?"

"Hm."

"We're not done. We need a deadline," Rage reminded SG. She walked towards the calendar on the wall. "How 'bout... September the 22nd? Three weeks from now? It should be enough."

To her relief, she nodded. "Okay. That sounds good."

"Then all we need to do right now is wait..."

* * *

><p>Yes, yes. This is an ArthurHope contest, hon. There isn't enough stories of them in the archive and I've decided to fix that problem.

The rules were stated up there, but I'll repeat them.  
>1. Arthur OR Hope MUST appear. One or the other, or both. It doesn't matter.<br>2. The rating cannot be over T.  
>3. You MUST PM me (SG) with the title of your story. If you do not, we will not consider it a valid entry.<br>4. Any characters found Mary-Sue/Gary-Stu -ish will lead to point deduction.

Other than that, you're good to go. It can be about anything at all. And I mean _anything_. AUs? Accepted. OCs? Delightful. Poetry? Read eagerly. It can be of any length, but please specify it in your summary and get it in on time. (Ex. One-shot, two-shot, multi-chapter).

PM me if you have any additional questions.

Rage and I are judging. We give you a score out of ten and the highest wins.  
><strong>NOTE: We are not telling you what we scored you. Sorry for any inconvenience.<strong>

And hon, I know I'm not the best writer, but I can still write a decent one-shot about any two characters. Your choice.(And you get blueberry PIE!)

The deadline is September the 22nd.

Happy writing!

~SG^^


	2. Chapter 2

SG stared glumly at the computer screen. "One, two, three," she counted under her breath. After a minute, she let out a frustrated sigh and slammed her fist down on the keyboard, dislodging the _F, G, _and _T _keys. "Failure!"

Rage sat beside her, trying not to show her exasperation at having to buy yet _another _keyboard. "Gigi, relax. There's still about a week left. You might get more entries."

SG looked at the other girl. "Do you really believe that?"

Rage suddenly became very interested in her fingernail. "Um... think positive?" she said weakly.

She was graced with a groan.

SG took a deep breath and let it out. She stood and began to pace. It was a habit.

"Okay," she muttered. "The deadline is this Thursday. We only have four entries. Pretty much everyone has to worry about school. But if we're lucky, we'll get a couple more stories in. Okay. Right. Optimism." She forced a smile that came out looking like a constipated monkey. "We can _soooooo _do this!"

Rage nearly smiled. "That's the spirit! It's not to bad, actually. At least four entries is a contest."

"You're right. We've still got something going on here. And I still get to write a one-shot." SG grinned. "I checked the number of Hope/Arthur stories again last night and there was a little more. So... it's still something!" she repeated.

"After this maybe people will get inspired and miraculously bake us pie and write Hope/Arthur stories!" Rage said encouragingly.

"That could happen," the latter nodded. "Yes, I really _hope_that happens. Get it? "Hope" that happens? Hahahaha!" she stopped giggling when she noticed how lame her joke sounded. "...No? Okay then. Nevermind."

"She's talking to herself again," Rage mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" Rage beamed. "So you ready to do this?"

"Yes!"

And so, they waited.

* * *

><p>Um... yeah. Don't ask me where that came from.<p>

_Anywaaaaays_, the deadline is this Thursday. That's **SEPTEMBER THE 22ND**, fellow fanfictioners. If you plan on entering, please publish your story by that time.

If you don't plan on entering, that's okay. But you won't get any pie. :P

The results should be up within the next week. Expect it some time between the 22nd and the beginning of October.

And I would like to clarify that there will only be one winner who will get the one-shot and pie, but I'll also post the second and third place winners if I receive more than five stories. You guys get the pride and the tittle of second and third. /Please don't kill me! I'm sorry!/

PM me if you have any questions!

~SG^^


	3. Chapter 3

SG was squealing and bouncing up and down in front of the computer.

"Calm down Gigi," Rage sad, but she was grinning, looking every bit as excited as SG.

"Twenty one!" she crowed. "There was twenty-one last time I checked! I know that doesn't seem like a lot but remember when we still had ten?" She sighed dreamily. "Yeah... those were the awful days."

"So who won? I want to present them with the pie."

"You can do that," SG agreed readily. "As long as you bake it, because I am way to lazy."

Rage only shrugged. She liked making pie and so it made no difference to her who baked it. "As long as you help me."

"Sure! You make the best pie, anyways."

Rage smiled. "Thanks. Now the winner...?"

Gigi hummed. "The winner is..."

* * *

><p><em>We interrupt this program with a short message from the judges. Before we release the results, we would like you to know that it was tough to score your stories because we really enjoyed all of them. And we are not just saying that to be nice. Your stories were insanely creative and all your plots, I could never have thought up off.<em>

_And now, back to the results._

_Previously... _

_Gigi hummed. "The winner is..."_

* * *

><p>omg-KITTENS Congratulations!<p>

You story, _Of Kittens, Carts and Bowties_is the first place winner of the Hope/Arthur contest. It is written well and has a lovely and original plot. Your grammar, punctuation and spelling is great and the characters seem realistic. Your humor was also awesome. :)

Thanks for writing an EPIC Hope/Arthur story! :D

Runner up:

_Calling Names_ by _IJustCantChoose_!

You did a wonderful job, writing about how Dan got his name. I like how you made Hope the one who was somewhat in control, how she told Arthur to be more serious- it's how I imagined her. Grammar, punctuation and spelling is good. Haha, I love how Arthur was goofing around. :) I find him a lot like Dan in that way.

Great job! I enjoyed reading your story and I can't wait to see your future works!

And finally, in third place we have _When You Were Mine _by _.Death._. I'll tell you this bluntly. I. Absolutely. Love. Your story. If you asked me what I thought of Vikram/Hope a few weeks ago, I would have thrown up. Literally. You changed all that. This one-shot is incredibly cute and I'm in love with the ending. It reminds me of Ian and Amy, but with Hope breaking the Kabras heart instead. Haha. I'll admit that was rather ironic. Unless you did that on purpose of course.

Congratulations to all who entered! You've helped by taking one step closer to making Hope/Arthur a popular pairing! The s scores were so together- we even have a tie for the fourth place.

Rage presents the second a third places with tasty blueberry pie! Please enjoy. :)

/And please put in "this won -insert place- in the Hope/Arthur contest!" in your summary./

OMG- kittens- PM me two characters you would like me to write about.

Once again, thanks to all the writers and even if you did not win, your stories were beautiful and I hope that you will keep growing as a writer.

~SG^^


End file.
